Leave it to Kanye West to postpone the summer as long as David Stern did the NBA season a year ago. The G.O.O.D. Music performance that capped off Jay-Z‘s Made in America music festival teased us almost as much as a new NBA 2K13 trailer from 2K Sports. But the best things in life are always worth the wait. Now, Yeezy has dropped Cruel Summer upon us, while the NBA’s offseason is at a dead period until training camp starts.

Still, it’s as good a time as any to look back on this summer’s major headlines through Hit-Boy’s well-produced beats…

Knicks fans should’ve seen this coming. Jeremy Lin wasn’t going to stay in New York forever – or at least not for a discount.

“I’m going down to make sure I do it my way. If it doesn’t get me where I want to go I can live with that,” Lin told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an exclusive interview back in February.

Once he got the opportunity to shine, he made up his mind going forward. Lin was going out on his f@#&in’ terms, no matter what. R. Kelly’s intro is stuck on repeat. And James Dolan should be informed these Kanye lines are directed at him: “These n!$$@s tryna hold me back, I’m just trying to protect my stacks. Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax, Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax.”